SCHUNK workholding accelerates Joe Gibbs racing

Schunk

SCHUNK workholding accelerates Joe Gibbs racing

Joe Gibbs Racing machinists have used SCHUNK magnetic workholding, such as the MAGNOS magnet.

Photo courtesy of Joe Gibbs Racing

After a decade working together, Joe Gibbs Racing manufacturing team members say they’re still getting new technologies and capabilities from workholding pioneer SCHUNK.

“We want to be able to design parts in-house, so we have 29 CNCs, all equipped with SCHUNK workholding,” says Mark Bringle, technical sponsor and marketing director for Joe Gibbs Racing. “Those machines make about 90% of all of the parts that make us successful.”

Gibbs machinists point to specific SCHUNK components that have made the difference in machining parts. Machinist Steve LaRoche says SCHUNK’s VERO-S quick-change pallet system dramatically changed how team members approached machining.

“We use the VERO-S system for ease of setup and more accurate setups,” LaRoche says. “We can go from machine to machine with the same fixture and save a lot of time. Before the VERO-S, we would use clamps and T-nuts and clamp them down. We’d have to indicate parts for machining. With the VERO-S, we can take our fixture, set them down on the modules and just be done.”

LaRoche also worked with SCHUNK when he ran into a problem maintaining parallelism when machining hollow tubes. Traditional workholding solutions were bending the parts.

“We were trying to figure out a way to manufacture these tubes better, so we contacted SCHUNK on a Tuesday,” LaRoche says. “They had a [magnetic gripping system] here on Thursday, and we were able to put parts in the car – the way we wanted them – on the racetrack on Sunday.”

Keith Nance, also a CNC machinist at Gibbs, says SCHUNK’s ROTA-THW power chucks have supported the need to move workpieces between multiple machines without refixturing.

“It allows us to change from one job to another. The setup time is cut nearly in half – to a matter of minutes,” Nance says.

To see a video testimonial about SCHUNK products from Joe Gibbs Racing machinists, go to https://goo.gl/WycQ8T.

Joe Gibbs Racing

Founded in 1991 by NFL Pro Hall of Fame coach Joe Gibbs, owner of three Super Bowl rings, Joe Gibbs Racing is one of the most successful teams in motorsports. The team has won four Monster Energy NASCAR Cup championships – 2000, 2002, 2005, and 2015.

Current drivers include Denny Hamlin, winner of the 2016 Daytona 500; Kyle Busch, winner of the 2015 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup championship for Gibbs, 2015 and 2016 winner of the Brickyard 400, and 2009 NASCAR Xfinity series champion; and Daniel Suárez, 2015 NASCAR Xfinity Rookie of the Year and 2016 NASCAR Xfinity series champion.